Everything you need to take great photos

by SOPHIE LORENZO  December 2009

Sink and skim

Forget bulky underwater camera housings or dodgy disposables, you can get great underwater pix while snorkelling or catch the kids’ antics in the pool with the sturdy and colourful CANON D10. It can dive to 10 metres underwater, is shockproof if dropped up to 1.2 metres, and will work whether it’s -15°C or 40°C. This 12MP camera has a 3x optical zoom, a dozen shooting modes (including underwater and aquarium), face recognition, red-eye controls and a six-centimetre LCD screen. Just remember to get familiar with all your buttons and menus before you get in the water. $429. canon.ca; futureshop.ca.

Never naked

Digital cameras have gotten so small that you can throw them into a coat pocket or backpack and hardly know they’re there. The flipside is that, without those old-school padded bags, the cameras are taking a beating. One option is to get a camera skin — a silicone case that’s custom made for a specific camera, like Flexi Skinwww.boxwave.com. Another is to get a snug shock-resistant case like the SUMDEX DIGIPOD. These tiny neoprene sleeves range from Plain Jane solid colours to stylish techy designs and come with a carabiner to clip onto your belt or bag. sumdex.com; overstock.com.

You were where?

If you’ve ever had a
hard time remembering where you took a photo (was it on the way to the Grand
Canyon or near Gooseneck State Park?), the GISTEQ PHOTOTRACKR LITE is
for you. Using the included software, you synchronize
your camera with the gizmo before hitting the road, and the light little unit
is constantly recording GPS coordinates. Back home the PhotoTrackr matches
the geodata with the timestamps on your photos. Once they’re tagged, you can
import them into sharing sites like Flickr, Picasa or Smugmug. Runs for 14 hours
on a single AA battery and can record as many as 250,000 locations. canadagps.com; gpscity.ca.

Bend over backwards

Want to take interesting
shots from different angles without being a contortionist, or to snap an impromptu
group photo and still be in the frame? The JOBY GORILLAPOD gives you
that freedom by latching onto just about anything — whether it’s hanging from
a fence or looped around a post. Each of its three legs is made up of nine
articulated ball joints, each capable of bending 45° and rotating 360°. The
mini model weighs only 45 grams, is a
compact 15 centimetres long and can hold
up to 325 grams (enough for many point and shoot digitals). $28
for smallest model, $48 for SLR tripod. vistek.ca.

This article was accurate when it was published. Please confirm rates and details directly with the companies in question.